New man Le Roux confident Bafana have right players
'Youngsters will be in their prime for next Afcon and World Cup'
Image: David Lidström Hultén
Bafana Bafana newcomer Luke le Roux has told how the squad’s average age, estimated to be 26, gives him hope that they’re the generation to bring back glory days.
The 22-year-old Le Roux, who’s the property of Swedish side Varbergs BoIS, is in the Bafana set-up for the first time as they prepare to face Sierra Leone and Botswana in friendlies on Saturday and Tuesday.
Both games are at the FNB Stadium with the one against Sierra Leone kicking-off at 3pm, while 6pm is the kick-off time for the second one versus the Zebras.
“I believe we can be the generation to make South Africans proud again because we have the players between the ages of 22 and 33. This is like not a huge gap, but this [time] 25-, 26-year-olds are in, and in two years’ time it is the Afcon; and in four years’ time it’s the World Cup. I think this is when we’ll all be in our prime,'' Le Roux stated.
Le Roux is in his second year abroad, having left SuperSport United in February 2020. The midfielder from Stellenbosch wants to buck the trend of SA players returning from Europe too early. Le Roux represented SA at all youth levels. However, he maintains the Bafana call-up is the highlight of his life, adding he never felt entitled to be called up, but kept on working hard.
“My goal and my aim at the moment is to stay in Europe as long as I can... maybe that is until I am 30 or 35. I believe I can even move to better leagues. I back myself,” Le Roux said.
“Whether I play or not, it’s still the biggest achievement of my life [to be in the Bafana squad]. I don’t think wait is the right word [after he was asked how it was to wait for a call-up].
"I think you just have to put your head down and work because if you’re going to wait, you are going to have expectations of when something should happen. So in my case, I have been putting in the work.”